Ar 


UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 

A.    D.    M  Hi  AIN,  Ciiikk  of  Bukkau. 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE  WORK  OF  THE 
ANIMAL  HUSBANDRY  OFFICE. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT   PRINTING  OFFICE. 

1906. 


UNIV.  OF  FL  LIB 
DOCUMENTS  DEPT. 


U.S.  DEPOSITORY 


ANIMAL  HUSBANDRY  OFFICE. 


Administrative  Staff. 

Animal  Husbandman:  George  M.  Rommel. 
Assistant  Animal  Husbandman:  G.  Arthur  Bell. 

Animal  breeding  investigations. 

Animal  Husbandman,  in  Charge. 
Scientific  Assistant:  E.  H.  Riley. 

Supervision  of -pedigree  record  associations. 
Herdbook  Assistant:  George  It.  Samson. 

Poultry  investigations. 
Poultry  Assistant:  Rob  R.  Slocum. 

Hog  investigations. 
Scientific  Assistant:  L.  R.  Da  vies. 

Cooperative  Staff. 

Animal  nutrition  investigations. 

Expert  in  Charge:  H.  P.  Armsby. 

Assistants:  F.  August  Fries,  W.  W.  Braman,  F.  W.  Chris- 

tensen. 

Beef  production  in  the  South. 

Expert  in  Charge:  D.  T.  Gray. 
Assistant:  W.  F.  Ward. 

Horse  breeding  investigations. 

Expert  in  Charge  of  Colorado  Work:  W.  L.  Carly-le. 
Expert  in  Charge  of  Vermont  Work:  W.  F.  Hammond, 

Poultry  breeding  investigations. 
Expert  in  Charge:  Gilbert  M.  Gowell. 

Sheep  breeding  investigation*. 
Expert  in  Charge:  George  E.  Morton. 

Turkey  breeding  investigations. 

Expert  in  Charge:  Leon  J.  Cole. 
Assistant:  W.  F.  Kirkpatrick. 

(2) 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE  WORK  OF  THE  ANI- 
MAL HUSBANDRY  OFFICE. 


The  animal  husbandry  work  of  the  Bureau  of 
Animal  Industry  began  on  July  1,  1901,  with  the 
appointment  of  the  present  Animal  Husbandman 
as  Expert  in  Animal  Husbandry.  The  duties  of 
the  office  for  two  years  were  principally  the  com- 
pilation of  information  pertaining  to  animal  hus- 
bandry, attendance  at  stock  shows  and  breeders' 
meetings,  and  answering  correspondence.  Under 
the  provisions  of  the  tariff  laws  the  supervision  of 
pedigree-record  associations  by  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  was  in  1903  assigned  to  the  Animal 
Husbandry  Office,  and  in  February,  1905,  an  As- 

tant  Animal  Husbandman  was  appointed,  the 
Expert  in  Animal  Husbandry  being  placed  under 
the  classified  service  at  this  time  as  Animal  Hus- 
bandman of  the  Bureau. 

The  first  independent  investigation  in  animal 
husbandry  began  in  July,  1905,  with  experiments 
to  study  the  effect  of  cotton  seed  and  cotton-seed 
meal  when  fed  to  hogs,  and  was  followed  by  the 
inauguration  of  poultry  experiments  and  breeding 
experiments  with  small  animals  in  1906.     In  the 


meantime  the  work  of  supervision  of  pedigree- 
record  associations  had  grown  enough  to  demand 
the  entire  attention  of  a  herdbook  assistant,  and 
such  an  assistant  was  appointed  in  July,  1906. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty-eighth  Con- 
gress, in  the  act  making  appropriations  for  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  for  the  fiscal  year  end- 
ing June  30,  1905,  $25,000  was  appropriated  for 
experiments  in  animal  breeding  and  feeding.  The 
Animal  Husbandry  Office  was  put  in  charge  of 
this  work.  The  cooperative  work  now  under  way 
comprizes  investigations  in  animal  nutrition  in  co- 
operation with  the  Pennsylvania  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, in  beef  production  in  the  South  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  Alabama  Experiment  Station,  in 
horse  breeding  in  cooperation  with  the  Colorado 
and  Vermont  experiment  stations,  in  poultry 
breeding  in  cooperation  with  the  Maine  Experi- 
ment Station,  in  sheep  breeding  in  cooperation 
with  the  Wyoming  Experiment  Station,  in  turkey 
breeding  in  cooperation  with  the  Rhode  Island 
Experiment  Station,  and  in  zebra-hybrid  breeding 
in  cooperation  with  the  Maryland  Experiment 
Station.  This  appropriation  has  been  continued 
from  year  to  year  and,  altho  small,  promises  to 
be  a  profitable  investment  and  one  which  will 
be  highly  beneficial  to  the  animal  industry  of 
the  country.  The  relations  of  the  Bureau  with 
the  experiment  stations  have  been  harmonious. 
The  work  will  be  continued  and  enlarged  as  ap- 
propriations permit. 


WORK  IN  WASHINGTON. 

ANIMAL  BREEDING  INVESTIGATIONS. 

Animal  Husbandman,  in  charge. 
E.  II.  Riley,  Scientific  Assistant. 

In  the  advance  that  is  being  made  in  the  science 
of  animal  breeding  it  is  very  important  that  care- 
ful study  should  be  given  to  underlying  principles. 
The  great  mass  of  material  in  the  herd-books  of 
this  and  other  countries  is  of  the  greatest  value, 
and  wherever  used  has  given  very  important  re- 
sults, but  much  more  use  can  be  made  of  it  to 
advantage.  A  study  of  two  Poland  China  records 
by  the  office  showed  that,  contrary  to  popular 
opinion,  the  size  of  litter  of  sows  of  this  breed  has 
increased  measurably  in  the  twenty  years  from 
1882  to  1902.  These  results  are  being  followed  by 
a  study  of  the  inheritance  of  size  of  litter  by  the 
animal  husbandman  in  collaboration  with  Dr.  E.  F. 
Phillips,  of  the  Bureau  of  Entomology  of  this 
Department. 

For  scientific  study  with  animals,  the  smaller 
animals  like  guinea  pigs,  rabbits,  mice,  rats,  etc., 
are  generally  used  for  this  work,  and  the  Bureau 
is  fortunate  in  having  a  large  stock,  especially  of 
guinea  pigs,  about  3,000  of  which  are  raised  an- 
nually for  the  use  of  its  laboratories.  Observations 
are  made  on  these  animals,  and  the  results  ob- 
tained are  applied  to  the  larger  animals  under 
farm  conditions.  Experiments  in  close  breeding 
and  selection  are  under  way;  these  will  be  fol- 
lowed   by   experiments    in   crossbreeding.     This 


6 


work  is  being  done  in  collaboration  with  Dr. 
E.  C.  Schroeder,  Superintendent  of  the  Bureau 
Experiment  Station. 

SUPERVISION  OF  PEDIGREE-RECORD  ASSOCIATIONS. 

George  R.  Samson,  Ilerdbook  Assistant. 

The  tariff  laws  of  the  United  States  permit  a 
citizen  to  import  animals  free  of  duty  for  breeding 
purposes  if  they  are  pure  bred,  of  a  recognized 
breed,  and  duly  registered  in  the  books  of  record 
established  for  the  breed,  the  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture being  authorized  "  to  determine  and  cer- 
tify to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  what  are 
recognized  breeds  and  purebred  animals."  To 
carry  out  these  provisions  the  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture certifies  certain  pedigree-record  associa- 
tions to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  only 
animals  which  are  recorded  in  these  books  are  en- 
titled to  free  entry.  Foreign  books  of  record  are 
certified  only  as  the  associations  controlling  them 
may  be  affiliated  with  American  associations,  ex- 
cept in  cases  where  a  recognized  foreign  breed 
may  have  no  book  of  record  in  the  United  States, 
in  which  case  the  foreign  book  is  certified  direct. 
It  follows,  of  course,  that  in  practically  all  cases 
only  animals  registered  in  American  books  can  be 
imported  free.  The  Department  requires  certi- 
fied American  associations  to  submit  annual  re- 
ports, and  this  office  examines  their  books  when 
necessary.  The  certification  of  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  adds  considerable  prestige  to  an  asso- 
ciation doing  business  in  this  country,  and   two 


States  have  past  laws  requiring  stallions  standing 
as  purebred  to  be  registered  in  a  studbook  so  cer- 
tified. 

POULTRY  INVESTIGATIONS. 

Rob  R.  Slocum,  Poultry  Assistant. 

The  poultry  work  is  one  of  the  newer  fields  of 
investigation  of  the  Animal  Husbandry  Office, 
having  been  undertaken  during  the  summer  of 
1906.  Experiments  are  under  way  at  the  quar- 
antine station  of  the  Bureau,  near  Baltimore,  Md., 
to  study  the  relative  value  or  the  moist-mash  and 
dry-mash  systems  of  feeding,  and  feeding  with 
and  without  self-feeding  hoppers.  The  experi- 
ments will  be  repeated  with  the  hope  of  obtaining 
more  definite  results.  Chicks  will  be  hatched 
from  the  eggs  laid  by  the  hens  used  in  the  experi- 
ment, and  observations  will  be  made  of  the  effects 
on  vitality  of  the  different  systems  of  feeding. 

HOG  INVESTIGATIONS. 

L.  R.  Davies,  Scientific  Assistant. 

The  investigations  of  the  office  in  hog  husbandry 
thus  far  embrace  a  comprehensive  study  of  the 
effects  of  cotton  seed  and  cotton-seed  meal.  The 
work  is  being  done  in  collaboration  with  the  Path- 
ological and  Biochemic  Divisions  of  the  Bureau, 
and  is  designed  to  study  the  subject  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  practical  stockman,  the  veterinarian, 
and  the  chemist.  The  immediate  objects  in  view 
are:  The  effect  of  different  systems  of  feeding  on 
the  dangerous  character  of  a  cotton-seed  meal  ra- 
tion, the  symptoms  and  post-mortem  characteris- 
tics of  cotton-seed  poisoning,  and  the  cause  of  this 


8 


poisoning.  If  the  Bureau  succeeds  in  discovering 
the  cause  of  the  poisoning,  efforts  will  be  made  to 
find  a  method  whereb}'  cotton-seed  meal  may  be 
fed  with  safety.  The  importance  of  these  results 
to  all  farmers  who  feed  hogs,  but  to  southern  farm- 
ers especially,  is  apparent.  Cotton-seed  meal  has 
been  found  to  be  a  very  valuable  nitrogenous 
supplement  to  corn,  but  as  a  rule  it  can  not  be 
fed  safely  for  any  great  length  of  time,  except 
in  very  small  amounts  and  with  an  abundance  of 
green  feed  in  addition. 

COOPERATIVE  WORK, 

ANIMAL  NUTRITION  INVESTIGATIONS. 
H.  P.  Armsby,  in  charge. 

Investigations  in  animal  nutrition  were  under- 
taken some  time  before  the  Bureau  began  any 
other  investigations  in  animal  husbandry.  A 
respiration  calorimeter  was  constructed  along  the 
lines  of  the  Atwater-Rosa  apparatus  for  the  study 
of  human  nutrition  at  the  Wesleyan  University, 
Middletown,  Conn.  The  calorimeter  is  an  elaborate 
instrument,  enabling  the  operator  to  place  a  steer 
in  confinement  and  make  accurate  measurements 
of  the  amount  of  feed  actually  assimilated.  It 
also  permits  measurements  of  the  air  used  in 
respiration  and  the  effects  of  work  on  digestion. 
Results  on  the  available  energy  of  timothy  hay 
and  of  corn  and  wheat  meals  have  been  published, 
and  others  are  in  preparation.  These  investiga- 
tions are  of  great  importance  to  stock  feeders, 
giving  accurate  scientific  data  on  the  processes  of 
digestion  and  the  digestibility  of  different  feeds. 


This  work  is  done  in  cooperation  with  the  Penn- 
sylvania Experiment  Station  at  State  College,  Pa. 

BEEF  PRODUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

D.  T.  Gray,  in  charge. 

The  production  of  beef  cattle  in  the  South  is  one 
of  the  most  pressing  problems  in  animal  husbandry 
of  that  section.  Few  localities  have  better  oppor- 
tunities for  beef  production  than  many  of  the 
Southern  States.  This  office  is  cooperating  with 
the  Alabama  Experiment  Station  along  this  line. 
Two  steer-feeding  experiments  have  been  con- 
ducted, and  this  work  will  be  continued.  The 
office  is  cooperating,  thru  the  station,  with  a  large 
stock  farmer  in  the  Tennessee  Valley,  who  has 
been  grading  up  a  beef  herd  from  native  stock 
with  purebred  beef  bulls.  Careful  notes  are  being 
kept  of  his  work  with  a  view  to  publication  to 
show  how  far  such  operations  may  be  carried  on 
economically  in  the  South. 

HORSE  BREEDING  INVESTIGATIONS. 
COLORADO  WORK. 
W.  L.  Carlyle,  in  charge. 
The  horse-breeding  work  in  Colorado  is  being 
done  in  cooperation  with  the  Colorado  Experi- 
ment Station  at  Fort  Collins,  and  is  designed  to 
develop  an  American  carriage  horse  from  native 
material.     It  is  well  known  that  the  majority  of 
carriage  horses  on  American  markets  and  in  our 
horse  shows  are  trotting   bred,    but  no   serious 
attempt  has  been  made  to  develop  a  breed  from 
the  stock  producing  these  horses.     Furthermore, 
it  is  a  common  practise  to  castrate  standard-bred 


10 

stallions  of  carriage  type,  dock  them,  and  convert 
them  into  carriage  horses.  With  the  above-men- 
tioned object  in  view,  a  small  stud  has  been  estab- 
lished, all  the  animals  being  trotting  bred.  They 
were  selected  for  their  conformity  to  the  carriage 
type,  and  a  number  of  them  have  been  shown  in 
the  large  horse  shows  of  the  country.  The  stud  is 
headed  by  the  stallion  Cannon  32917,  American 
Trotting  Register — he  was  shown  by  Mr.  Thomas 
W.  Lawson  under  the  name  of  "  Glorious  Thun- 
dercloud." The  objects  of  this  work  are  to  con- 
centrate the  standard-bred  blood  which  produces 
carriage  horses,  to  give  American  farmers  an  object 
lesson  how  they  may  use  standard-bred  sires  to 
better  advantage,  and  to  raise  the  standard  of  our 
light-horse  stock.    Rigid  selection  will  be  followed. 

VERMONT  WORK. 
W.  F.  Hammond,  in  charge. 

The  horse-breeding  work  in  Vermont  is  being 
done  in  cooperation  with  the  Vermont  Experi- 
ment Station  at  Burlington,  using  horses  of  Morgan 
breeding  and  of  the  Morgan  type,  but  with  more 
size  than  the  old  Morgan  possest.  The  Morgan 
horse  is  in  considerable  danger  of  being  bred  out 
of  existence,  owing  to  the  desire  for  extreme 
speed  at  the  expense  of  more  desirable  qualities 
and  on  account  of  attempts  to  obtain  increased 
size  without  judicious  selections  of  sires.  Thus 
far  only  mares  have  been  purchased,  nearly  all  of 
which  were  obtained  in  Vermont,  two  being 
bought  in  Kentucky.     A  stallion  will  be  added  to 


11 


the  stud.  The  Bureau  was  very  fortunate  in 
securing  not  only  animals  of  good  Morgan  type 
with  considerable  size,  but  of  excellent  Morgan 
breeding  as  well.  The  objects  of  this  work  are 
the  retention  of  the  Morgan  type  with  size  enough 
to  conform  to  market  demands  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Morgan  blood.  Kigid  selection  will  be 
practised  and  judicious  feeding  and  careful  mating 
relied  upon  to  reach  the  de&ired  ends. 

POULTRY  BREEDING  INVESTIGATIONS. 
Gilbert  M.  Go  well,  in  charge. 

Poultry  experiments  are  conducted  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  Maine  Experiment  Station  at  Orono, 
and  comprize  investigations  to  increase  the  egg- 
laying  capacity  of  the  hens  and  to  study  the 
amount  of  floor  space  required  to  keep  them  in 
health.  Each  hen  is  numbered  and  provided  with 
a  leg  band  on  which  the  number  is  stamped,  trap 
nests  being  used,  so  that  an  accurate  record  may 
be  kept  of  the  eggs  laid  by  each  hen.  These  in- 
vestigations were  begun  independently  by  the 
Maine  Experiment  Station,  but  for  the  last  two 
years  have  been  in  cooperation  with  this  Bureau. 
The  stock  used  is  Barred  Plymouth  Rock,  which 
has  been  kept  pure  at  the  University  of  Maine  for 
twenty-five  years.  Already  several  hens  have 
been  found  to  lay  more  than  two  hundred  eggs 
in  one  year,  and  the  results  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  average  egg  yield  of  a  flock  can  be  increased 
by  selection.  The  value  to  poultrymen  of  such  an 
increase  is  too  apparent  to  need  further  mention. 


12 

SHEEP  BREEDING  INVESTIGATIONS. 
George  E.  Morton,  in  charge. 

One  of  the  most  important  problems  confront- 
ing stockbreeders  of  the  United  States  at  present 
is  the  development  of  a  breed  of  sheep  suitable 
to  range  conditions.  In  spite  of  the  great  devel- 
opment and  prosperity  of  the  sheep  industry  of 
the  West,  breeding  methods  are  not  systematic, 
and  most  breeders  are  continually  crossing,  the 
result  being  a  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  stock  and, 
to  a  certain  extent,  a  failure  to  attain  as  high  a 
standard  as  might  otherwise  be  possible.  The 
requirement  of  the  range  is  a  breed  of  sheep  that 
will  yield  a  profitable  clip  of  wool,  produce  good 
mutton  lambs,  and  that  will  stand  flocking  in 
large  numbers.  It  is  believed  possible  to  combine 
these  characteristics  in  one  breed  of  sheep,  and 
the  assistant  animal  husbandman  and  Mr.  Morton 
are  now  in  the  range  country  selecting  ewes  and 
rams  conforming  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  de- 
sired type. 

These  sheep  will  be  run  on  a  range  near  Lara- 
mie, Wyoming,  and  the  same  methods  will  be 
followed  as  in  other  breeding  projects  of  this  office, 
namely,  close  selection  of  progeny  to  type  and 
rigid  culling. 

TURKEY  BREEDING  INVESTIGATIONS. 

Leon  J.  Cole,  in  charge. 

The  turkey-breeding  investigations  have  been 
designed  to  study  the  origin  and  prevention, 
by  sanitation  or  by  breeding,  of  the  disease  in- 
fectious   entero-hepatitis,    commonly    known   as 


13 


"black  head,"  which  is  a  serious  drawback  to 
the  turkey  industry  of  the  East.  It  is  not  defi- 
nitely known  how  the  infection  is  communicated 
to  turkeys,  and  the  experiments  are  planned  to 
discover  this,  if  possible.  Methods  of  prevention 
will  naturally  follow,  and  considerable  attemion 
is  being  paid  to  the  possibility  of  breeding  stock 
immune  to  the  disease.  This  work  is  being  done 
in  cooperation  with  the  Rhode  Island  Experiment 
Station  at  Kingston. 

ZEBRA  HYBRID  INVESTIGATIONS. 

The  experiment  in  breeding  zebra  hybrids  is  be- 
ing conducted  in  collaboration  with  the  Experiment 
Station  of  the  Bureau  and  in  cooperation  with  the 
Maryland  Experiment  Station  at  College  Park. 
It  is  intended  to  breed  the  large  Grevy  zebra,  pre- 
sented to  the  President  by  Emperor  Menelik,  of 
Abyssinia,  to  a  number  of  good  farm  mares  weigh- 
ing from  1,200  to  1,400  pounds,  the  object  of  the 
work  being  to  ascertain  what  commercial  value 
the  resulting  hybrids  possess.  It  will,  of  course, 
be  necessary  to  obtain  female  zebras  soon  in  order 
to  maintain  the  zebra  stock. 

Geo.  M.  Rommel, 

Animal  Husbandman. 
Approved : 

A.  D.  Mblvin, 

Chief  of  Bureau. 
Washington,  D.  C,  October  31,  1906. 

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